Last week, ひとしずくP’s Synchronicity finally saw the release of its (most anticipated?) sequel, 光と影の楽園 (Hikari to Kage no Rakuen/”The Paradise of Light and Shadow“). For those who have yet to know, Synchronicity is a Vocaloid-based web novel by CAZ and company that mixes various fanmade Vocaloid lore with traditional Japanese RPG elements (being set in the middle ages, a young group of adventurers traveling around the world, etc.). It was then abridged into PVs by 鈴ノ助 with lyrics done by ひとしずくP, and has since gained a cult following among Vocaloid fans in the NND community.

With two videos in (the announcement of the sequel also revived interest in the first PV) and yet another sequel hook for the 3rd (and possibly last) Synchronicity video, how will they fare in this week’s rankings? Find out after the break!

#26:【GUMI】Bad Apple!! を歌ってもらった(Full) (Down from 10) – Have been listening practically everyday since it’s out, can’t help it that Bad Apple is really an epic song and GUMI’s cover version was good as well.I like this a cappella version better :3 (Why yes, I’ll be watching this show tonight. Why do you ask?

#14:【めぐっぽいどオリジナル曲】ぼくらの１６ｂｉｔ戦争【ＰＶ付き】 (Up from 48) – Why the sudden jump? Not that I’m complaining, but… I am wondering the same as well, although this would be the 3rd sasakureUK song in the ranking.Is this because sasakureUK is our go-to Gumi producer? xD Seriously, though, it’s been experiencing a brief resurgence since the 7th. Anyone check his site for announcements?

#13:巡音ルカ「ルカルカ★ナイトフィーバー」【オリジナル曲】 (Unmoved) – Judging from this song keeping its place and the NND comments, this might be a keeper.It’s got twice as many views as mylists, so it’s possible.

#12:【巡音ルカ】Just Be Friends【オリジナルPV】 (Down from 9) – Would you believe this song was snubbed? Good thing that’s not true, then. :3 (nyoro~n)It gained 300 points, it was just a high-score week.

#5:【オリジナル曲PV】clock lock works【初音ミク】 (Down from 1) – So much for V3. Oh well… 5’s not bad… If you were tracking clw, you could tell the song hit its limit. On the plus side, congrats to Hachi for winning Best New Producer and is up for Producer of the Year.It’s still got some oomph behind it though. It might be a keeper.

#1:Blindness 【ミク・ルカ オリジナル】 (NEW) – Please allow me to rant on this a bit. This song is just bad. The music doesn’t make any sense. I’m not saying songs have to follow patterns and not be creative, but musically this song is just all over the place. The fact that it got number one means there’s either something really wrong with me, or the Japanese just really do have different tastes. I. am. disappoint.I think the point is that it’s all over the place, like what happens when you suddenly lose your sight in one or both eyes.

IN OTHER VOCALOID NEWS:Misleading headline is misleading. I thought we were actually going to talk about D&D. D:

The creator(s) “shiningray,” 164‘s first major album, “Exit Tunes Presents the Complete Best of 164 from 203soundworks featuring Hatsune Miku”, will be released on December 16th.

Also, it looks like more and more works from the recently distributed “Append” demo will be released through the end of the year…

FINAL THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS:

It’s a shame clock lock works didn’t make the 3-peat. It would’ve backdoored into Song of the Year, but it hit its peak and is starting its freefall. How can you tell? Well, I’ve done some work on it and will come up in a future article. xD

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

I guess I’ll have to wait for JM’s article before I publish any of my findings to avoid any overlap. Ah well.

With the first week of the AH-crew, it’s been all out war between the old and new Vocaloids, and it caused a brush off of some major players from the past couple of weeks. If you remember last week, I said that Gravity=Reality and R18 would go. They did, but Chain Girl miraculously survived in the 85th spot.

Pretty Fundoshi and GUMI’s Bakemonogatari ED tanked to 55 and 74 respectively, however the biggest surprise for me was Fate:Rebirth taking the plunge to 43, losing 28 spots. All signs pointed to another week in the top 30. Will Chain Girl retire next week? And will Celebrate (1.5x speed or no) remain in the top 100? I don’t know, but I can’t wait to find out.

As for this week’s high scorers, I think CLW will soon settle amidst the countdown. The fact that it held onto 6-digit scores for three weeks is nothing to sneeze at, and on a lower-scoring week, it would have made it into the top 3 again. Signs are pointing for Miki Miki to be like Luka Luka. It’s getting more hits than mylists, which is always a good sign of a stable pattern. Of the top three this week, Yandere Luka will probably take the biggest fall. Paradise has the fanbase behind it to keep itself up, and Blindness has an emotional push to it. So there you go. Stay tuned for next week, where I’ll eat my way through a vat of turkey chili… okay not really… but a guy can dream, can’t he?

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I can see why people wouldn't like Blindness, but I'm enjoying it more than Clock Lock Works, which I didn't care for, so I welcome Blindness' rank 1 over it.
Really wish Synchronicity pt 2 would have gotten 1, though! Just feels… more epic than rank 2 and 1. It got me pumped up (though I was eagerly awaiting it, so that's probably why).

I like the story and animation in the Synchronicity series, but the music is pretty uninteresting. I think 3 is a good spot for the new installment. I wish Clock Lock Works could have at least stayed in the top 3 though, that song is terrific.
Also, no Yuki or Kiyoteru in the top 30, and very little Miki in their first full week… I suppose that was to be expected. Maybe in time they'll gain more popularity… maybe.

Blindness has a more ambient/atmospheric feel than most popular Vocaloid songs. I, for one, love it. The sudden changes in rhythm and more complex (compared to the usual vocaloid song) composition is a signature of Treow's style. Also, I liked it alot more once I understood the lyrics.

Well, Blindness isn't a bad song… the music remembers some Castlevania's Songs becauses it uses the resource of the dissonance, but I have to admit that abused of it in the beggining, the second half of the song is better

Anyway it was too short for a song that deserves the 1st position of the ranking =/

It's probably a combination of the Kaito, Choucho, and Ten × Baruche covers (and mostly the latter, if the view count is any indication), and the general upswing in Sasakure.UK songs that has contributed to its return to the Top 30.

I somehow get this feeling that Love Planet (17th this week) will stay on the rankings another week. Hopefully Campanella keeps steady to remain on the rankings, I've actually been kind of surprised at how steady it's held.

Okay, I knew I'd get heat for saying Blindness was bad, so I went and listened to it more to write out a clearer opinion. Here it is.

The visuals are pretty; I really like them. I always thought that. In fact, I remember thinking it was a shame that the song was so… off-sounding, because the visuals were so nice. I also realized something about the music. The dissonance stables out towards the end of the song, but the main melody– the melody Miku and Luka are singing– still sounds bad to me. It's like, I can see what it's trying to do, but I just… don't like it. Of course, I don't like a lot of stuff that most other people like (1925, stuff by wowaka, etc.), so I guess it should come as no surprise. 😛 I like the lyrics too, but not enough to make me like the song despite the music.

There you have it. No hard feelings though, right? It's just a song. -^_^-

No hard feelings for everyone who hates Blindness, but I really love that song and I did expect it to be number one this week. Everyone's musical preference is different. For example, I kind of don't like Paradichlorobenzene, and I'm sure a lot of other people love that song. 😀